The Ocelot
by Lokiismylife
Summary: Ichigo finds an ocelot in her room. I wonder where it came from...


**The Ocelot**

Coming into her house one day after school, Ichigo found her mother waiting, one eyebrow raised. "What?" Ichigo asked.

"Would you care to explain why I found an ocelot in your room?" Sakura asked.

"Uh… are you feeling okay?" Ichigo asked. "Ocelots don't live in Japan, nor would one have reason to be in my room if they did. Are you sure it's an ocelot?"

"Go see for yourself," Sakura said. "He's still up there; he really seems to like your room."

Ichigo sighed and went upstairs to her room, where she found an ocelot cub curled up on her pillow, asleep. Sakura came in and said, "See?"

"I guess you're right, but I have no clue how he got in," Ichigo said. "Was my window open?"

"No," Sakura replied. They watched as the ocelot yawned and looked at them, and Sakura asked, "Maybe he's a gift from your stalker?"

Ichigo looked at her, startled, and Sakura said, "I guessed. Don't worry, I didn't tell your dad."

"Well, I guess I can ask him how he got here," Ichigo said.

"_I'm right here, you know," _the ocelot said.

"Okay, so how did you get here?" Ichigo asked.

"_Eggplant Head left me here," _the ocelot replied.

"Eggplant Head?" Ichigo asked, amused. "I take it you mean Pai?"

"_Yup," _the ocelot said. _"He apparently doesn't like being clawed, and I don't like being studied, so he dumped me here and left."_

"Do you have a name?" Ichigo asked.

The ocelot shifted uncomfortably, and finally said, _"Not really, you can think up something."_

Ichigo's eyes narrowed at the shifty tone the ocelot was using, and asked, "You wouldn't happen to be Kisshu, would you?"

"_What would give you that idea?" _the ocelot asked.

"You're acting pretty shifty right now," Ichigo commented.

The ocelot's ears drooped, and he said, _"I WAS Kisshu, but now I'm an ocelot. Pai got mad at me for 'redecorating' his lab and bedroom, and turned me into an ocelot, then dumped me here. He also mentioned that there's no way to reverse the transformation, so I'm stuck like this."_

Ichigo groaned. Sakura looked at her and asked, "I take it the ocelot is really Kisshu?"

"Yes," Ichigo said. "He claims Pai says he's stuck as an ocelot, too."

"Well, now what?" Sakura asked. "I don't think it's a good idea to give him to the zoo…"

Kisshu squeaked, alarmed, and Ichigo said, "Yeah, that's a bad idea. I guess we might as well keep him; I know Ryou would never help him, so he probably is stuck. At least he's not full grown; that would be a problem."

"There's no way to turn him back?" Sakura asked.

"I guess I could try what works on me," Ichigo said. She picked Kisshu up and kissed him on the nose. Unfortunately, nothing happened, and Kisshu drooped in her hands. She cuddled him, and said, "It looks like that's a no."

"Would Keiichiro help?" Sakura asked.

"Maybe, but we'd have to get Ryou out of the way first," Ichigo said. "Although Moe and Miwa want him dead, so that might not be too hard." She put Kisshu down on the bed, and took out her cell phone, then scrolled through her Contacts list until she reached Miwa's number, and hit Send.

Miwa picked up after two rings, and asked, _"Ichigo, what's up?"_

"Can you get Moe and come over? I'll explain here," Ichigo said.

"_Sure, it'll be nice to get out of the house," _Miwa said, and hung up.

"They'll be here soon," Ichigo told Sakura and Kisshu.

"Okay," Sakura said. Kisshu just curled up into a little ball.

Fifteen minutes later, the front door opened, and Miwa called, "Ichigo?"

"My room," Ichigo called back.

Moe and Miwa came in a minute later, and Moe asked, "So what's up?"

"Pai turned Kisshu into an ocelot, and the normal means of turning him back don't work," Ichigo said. "I think Keiichiro could probably help, but we need to get Ryou out of the way first."

Moe and Miwa immediately got evil grins on their faces, and Ichigo smiled. "Mom, can you drive us?" she asked. "I don't really want people asking why I'm carrying around an ocelot cub."

"Oh, fine," Sakura said. "Let's go get in the car."

The girls followed her to the garage, Ichigo carrying Kisshu, and got into the car. Sakura drove them to Café Mew Mew, and said, "Good luck. Call me if you need a ride home, 'kay?"

"We will, thanks Mom," Ichigo said. She, Moe and Miwa got out of the car and went to the back door of the Café, which led to the kitchen. Keiichiro was in there, and looked up as they came in. "Oh, hi girls," he said. "What's up?"

"Kisshu got turned into an ocelot, and we need your help turning him back," Ichigo said. "Kissing him doesn't work."

"Ryou's going to have a fit…" Keiichiro said.

"Oh, we'll take care of him," Miwa said evilly. "He can't have a fit if he's beaten to a bloody pulp." She and Moe headed off to find their prey, and Ichigo smiled. Keiichiro sighed and asked, "I assume they have a vendetta against Ryou for what he did to you?"

"Yup," Ichigo said. "Can you help Kisshu?"

"Fine…." Keiichiro said. "Let's go to the basement."

Ichigo followed him the lab, as they heard from upstairs, "YOU'RE GOING DOWN TODAY, BLONDIE!"

Keiichiro cringed and ignored that, while Ichigo silently giggled. They reached the lab, and Keiichiro said, "I had Ryou make a serum that would turn you human if you ever got stuck in cat form, but I need to analyze some of Kisshu's blood before using it, to make sure whatever Pai used won't create a negative reaction."

"Okay," Ichigo said. Keiichiro got out a syringe, and Kisshu hissed when he came over. "Kisshu, if you want to go back to normal, you have to let Keiichiro take some of your blood," Ichigo said.

Kisshu sighed and held out a leg. Keiichiro took some of his blood and put a little bandage around the prick, then went over to one of the many machines and put the blood into a slot. Ichigo gently petted Kisshu's ears as she watched Keiichiro work.

Finally Keiichiro said, "I think the serum should work- or at the very least it won't have any negative effects should it fail."

"Okay," Ichigo said.

Keiichiro went and got another syringe, then filled the canister with a yellow liquid. As he came over, Kisshu held out a leg again. Keiichiro smiled and pushed the liquid out of the syringe, into Kisshu's bloodstream.

This time, Kisshu began to glow, and Ichigo set him down gently. He slowly started to revert to his normal form as they watched.

When he was fully back to his normal form, Kisshu looked at Keiichiro and said, "Thanks for turning me back."

"Sure," Keiichiro said.

Kisshu looked at Ichigo, and asked hopefully, "Can we go watch Moe and Miwa demolish Blondie now?"

Ichigo giggled. "Sure Kisshu," she said. Kisshu took her hand and teleported. They landed in what was apparently Ryou's room, and found Moe and Miwa surveying Ryou, who was a bloody pulp on the floor. "I see it went well," Ichigo said dryly.

"Yeah, we're not really sure if he's still alive, but even if he is, he won't be out of the hospital for at least a year!" Moe said happily. "I see you got Kisshu back to normal."

"Yup," Ichigo said.

Keiichiro came in at that point, and Moe and Miwa gave him evil grins. "Uh…. you're not going to do that to me, right?" he asked.

"Nope, you're too nice to be taken down," Miwa said. "We'll be leaving now." She and Moe skipped out, and Ichigo and Kisshu followed, leaving Keiichiro to see if Ryou was still alive.

Once downstairs, Kisshu asked, "Can we teleport back to Ichigo's house?"

"Sure," Moe said.

"'Kay, grab on," Kisshu said. The girls obeyed, and Kisshu teleported them to Ichigo's room.

Sakura came in as they landed, and said, "I see it went well."

"Yup," Kisshu said cheerfully. "I didn't like being an ocelot. Unfortunately, I still need a place to stay."

"You can have the guest room," Ichigo said. "Mom won't mind, right Mom?"

"I don't mind," Sakura said. "I'll set it up later; I need to go make dinner."

"Okay," Ichigo said.

"Thanks," Kisshu said happily.

"Sure," Sakura said, and headed out.

Moe and Miwa headed out too, after promising to see Ichigo at school the next day, and Kisshu waited till they were gone, then asked, "Can we kiss now?"

"I suppose so…." Ichigo said. Kisshu gave her puppy dog eyes, and she pounced on him, pinning him down on her bed. Startled, Kisshu stared up at her, and then she kissed him. Kissing back, Kisshu decided this was what heaven must feel like.

**Well, there's another one. To the guest reviewer on Soulmates who goes by the name Sky, I'm glad you seem to like my stories, but I have no intention of writing RyouxLettuce; I hate Ryou and I don't think he deserves Lettuce- not to mention Lettuce and Pai were made for each other. With that said, I hope you enjoyed this story, and please review!**


End file.
